I personally find the death penalty totally unacceptable. I don't think the state (or anyone acting for the state) should ever complete an action which is otherwise regarded as one of the worst crimes possible. In thinking about it this morning, it occurred to me that you could chop a murderer's hands off instead. Ok, so I don't actually like that idea either (just call me a wussy liberal), but I found it an interesting proposition, and here are some of the things that occurred to me about it. I'd be interested in anyone else's point of view.
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Mutilation doesn't involve killing anyone. This means the state can continue to assert its value of human life over everything else, and no one has to be an executioner.
While mutilation isn't reversable, it can be compensated for; so it addresses the false conviction issue.
Removing someone's hands suggests a neutralisation of their ability to do harm (though this may not actually have a significant effect as prostheses can be turned into weapons).
It would affect the offender for the rest of their life, in a physical and permanent way. While not comprable to a life for a life, it would go some way to giving effect to the victims' desire to act in a physical way. There is no chance that it could be seen as a light punishment.
It allows the offender to rehabilitate themselves and become a 'good' person. It also holds open the possibility of redemption or explanation.
It would have to be inflicted concurrently with a life sentence.
It would involve expensive medical care.
It would be a profound deterrant. A tiny percentage of the population could possibly believe that loosing one's hands didn't matter much. It might possibly result it having no hands being a badge of honour (anyone want to write some fiction which explores that idea?).
Mutilation strikes me as somehow worse than the death penalty. Which makes me wonder at how much the death penalty has been sanitised. I'm intrigued that the idea of doing violence to someone is so distateful, and I worry that our existing discussion of the death penalty is happening entirely out of context.
Posted by carla at January 24, 2005 09:32 AM